CappuccinoandArtJournal

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Let the Party Begin

My birthday is this weekend but my friends have already declared this to be my entire birthday week. I really can't argue with that concept. I'm rolling with it.

Yesterday there were presents. And cookies. What's not to like?

I love having my end-of-March-and-almost-Easter birthday. In San Francisco, anyway.Because there are flowers blooming in my backyard....

My favorites are lilacs. The lilac bush my husband planted for me years ago manages to always squeeze out some lilacs right at the birthday.Not a lot, but I will take what I can get.

LOOK at this card! I'm in typewriter heaven....so cool. And a certain. lovely and generous someone(you know who you are) also gave me that great postcard stamp.

Ok, so I treated myself to an art playdate with a friend and we went to SF Scrap and look what I found there. My lucky day.....and yes, I did pick some of these unmounted stamps up for friends too. I'm not a total pig.

Never seen these before....kinda cool.....

And, on a food shopping trip today I saw a big bag of these free Styrofoam blocks -- ah ha!!!!!!

Let the stamp mounting begin! (There is a tip for you guys). I just cut it up with a mat knife and glue those annoying little unmounted stamps on there and I'm good to go.....

Scrap had a 1968 LOOK magazine in the FREE section with this cool old typewriter ad.

And these will be perfect for collaging on and sticking in all those altered books I am working. These are the large ones....vintage and cool....

I love old and out of date stampers....1987? 1974? 1990? I want them all....

Some postcards from SCRAP -- these look like they need stamp heads to me.

I have been altering more vintage envelopes to amuse myself....

And sending out a lot of good mail.....

My friends know what I like...old paper...airmail...pretty ribbons....So, the party started early but now that i think about it, the library big book sale is next week and I am meeting a mail art pal to stand in line....hum.....maybe the celebration will continue till the end of the month??Funny, I have lots of ARIES friend who have their birthdays right around mine so I have been busy getting ready for those birthdays....I must like Aries since I know so many.

***I have a question for you all -- ready????***People keep asking me to trade mail with them, especially on the blog's FaceBook page and I really can't add any more folks to my mailing list or I may be buried in mail....They often say they would love to send out mail art but don't know who to trade with.I was thinking of trying to do a blog post about finding people to trade mail art with -- and you all could leave comments with your email if you are looking for people to trade with.What do you think?Would that be helpful to you?You can just set up a free email account just for that if you don't want to post your personal email.I will only do this if it seems there is a lot of interest out there so let me know....

In the meantime, I'm going back to the cookies and the fun with friends.

I've never seen styrofoam blocks before. I don't think they ever made it to Kansas. But I adore that you found a way to use them instead of putting them in the recycle bin.

I don't know what "Scrap" is, but it sounds like my kind of place to shop. It also sounds like you are celebrating early there, too.

I think everyone should have a month long birthday celebration. Oftentimes, people (friends) want to take you to lunch or visit you, but it can't all be on the same day or you would be so full from eating you couldn't do much for a week. So enjoy the next few weeks and celebrate like it's your big day. Because it will be!

Hi Elizabeth -- and Bleubeard -- Scrap is "A Center for Creative Re-Use" and an amazing place. They have them in other cities too, including Berkeley and Portland, OR. And those styrofoam blocks were very commonly used in packing boxes -- I am surprised you haven't seen them. Luckily for the earth they are getting away from styrofoam now.Yes, I agree -- why not celebrate a week? Or a month? You only live once.

Happy Birthday! I'm going with the idea you are celebrating for a month for I will be late with birthday mail art. I like the idea of using the Styrofoam for mounting loose stamps. I have used other plastic waste in the same manner, but I think the Styrofoam will work better. Karen I's group "Mail Me Some Art" might be a good place for those looking for people to swap with. She has a section on her site with those looking to exchange in private swaps. And, of course, there are the regular swaps, too.

cjsrq -- Thanks! And yes, Karen's Mail Me Some Art IS a good place to look for folks to swap with. I was going to mention that if I did a post but I'm not getting people commenting and saying they want a Mail Art Swap post so I guess it wasn't a good idea....I am happy to get any mail from you!

Happy birthweek to you and I wish you many days full of good mail in the coming years. I have enjoyed reading your blogpost. Those stamps!!! I don't need more people to swap mail art with because I use the IUOMA site and some groups on Face Book. It is such a nice hobby. Thank you for being my mail art friend.

Carter -- the votes aren't all in yet (about the blog post on getting mail art pals). I was trying to gauge the interest level...I wish i could have more people to swap with but I have a lot of trouble just keeping up with the folks I already swap with. BTW -- I owe YOU mail and thank you for that fabulous double NYC postcard you sent recently.I think I will continue the celebration till at least March 31 -- or maybe as long as the sun sign is Aries! LOL

The iHanna post card swap is open for registration. It is specifically post cards, but it's a nice swap. http://www.ihanna.nu/postcard-swap/?utm_source=iHanna%27s+Newsletter&utm_campaign=4b6b5bb922-Nya_Join_the_iHanna_Postcard_Swap_22mars2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c2c98b294c-4b6b5bb922-127119853

Concerning exchanging mail art indeed the IUOMA network is a good place to meet people (and I'm thinking of Stripygoose's offer to send bird mail art, I think she still needs people/addresses to dend her bird mail art to - see also IUOMA).

Your stamps are a delight to see! And thanks for the styrofoam tip! Great idea as I have several unmounted stamps, used too unoften because my fingers get inked too much, too :-) Happy Stamping, too!